Sunday June 30th
2019 13th Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle
C)
What Did I Sign Up For?
The tie in between
today’s readings: Determined Discipleship
Go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). This is the Great Commission. The reason
that you are a Christian today is because believers before you took Jesus’
directive seriously. In a sense, the Body of Christ is one big daisy chain of
disciple makers starting from Pentecost up to today. The future Church also
depends on our faithfulness in this calling. We lay people need to realize the
significance of our part in building the Kingdom of God and not just leave it
to the ordained. The Lord will also demand an accounting of our lives in this
endeavor. We have to decide whether we want to be merely churchgoers or commit
to being good and faithful servants...it’s that important!
Examine yourself. In
our gospel reading today (Luke 9:57-62) we see three types of men and their
failed responses to Jesus’ call to follow Him. First, we see the comfortable
man (vs57-58). This guy volunteers.
Jesus warns him about letting his mouth write checks that his body can’t cash.
Count the cost! Our Savior, Himself,
calls another man to follow Him (vs. 59-60). This is the inconvenient man, “I
would, Jesus, but my plate’s pretty full right now. Can I take a rain check?”
Our Lord admonishes this guy to get his act together and his priorities
straight. Still another volunteer comes forward, but he apparently has “Jesus
ADD” (vs. 61-62). He lacks focus and commitment to the task. In effect, the
Master tells him to stay out of the game if he can’t go all in on the river
card (my paraphrase)! Hardships! Priorities! Commitment! If you lived back then and Jesus walked up to
you with His twelve guys behind him and said that He could use another, what
would you do? Don’t think about it all that long. You’re living your answer
right now! The question is: should you change?
Our prophet Elijah is ready to finish his ministry and
hop on the heavenly chariot, “Coming for to carry him home”. God tells him his
successor will be Elisha son of
Shaphat. In our reading, 1 Kings 19:16-21, He finds Elisha plowing a field. Elijah
throws his coat on Elisha, thus
telling him that he has a new job as God’s mouthpiece and at the same time he
creates the colloquial expression: “Passing the mantle”. Let’s look at Elisha in the light of a good disciple.
He’s plowing with a 12 double yolk oxen team, which means that he’s a rich guy
that’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, conclusion: a hard worker with character.
Verses 20-21 show that he is: ready
(says goodbye to parents), committed
(burns the plows and slaughters the oxen), generous
(gives everything away), and humble
(becomes a servant). Absolutely the kind of boy you want your daughter to bring
home! Let’s challenge ourselves with his example.
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Galatians 5:13-18
shows us that disciples have to develop a new way of thinking and living.
Without Jesus, you view any good action that you do as a check in the plus
column, a gold star on your permanent record, or a down payment on a corner lot
in the Celestial City. You expect some kind of reward for your sacrifices.
Whether you admit it or not, you are caught in the Religion delusion, which is:
follow the prescribed formulas of behavior and you’ll get the cosmic currency
you need to buy your stairway to heaven. And the question is always, “Is it
enough?” The answer is always, “No!” When you confess Christ as your Savior, it
means that you discovered the futility of self goodness and place yourself by
faith into Christ’s righteousness to gain heaven. Now the Holy Spirit will take
your faith and plant it into your daily life. The Father wants you to be a
replica of His Son on this earth and it’s done following His Spirit. He will
teach you to love your neighbor. He will give you the desire to really want to
do good and to shun sin. He will lead you in the truth of God. You will no
longer be a slave to your lusts, but a servant of virtue!
A disciple needs discipline to mature in their faith. We not only have a
new life to lead, but the message of the Gospel to proclaim! It has to be done
right. Just like an athlete in training, the disciple needs devotional time in
the Bible, prayer, and fasting. So get up earlier, stay up later, or carve out
time as you go through your day. Switch from secular to religious radio, podcasts,
and TV programs and sacrifice that Netflix binge watch. Whatever you have to do
to fit “Jesus time” into your schedule, do it! It’s that important! These
spiritual pursuits are necessary in order to grow in grace, love and maturity
in Jesus Christ. There will be stumbles along the way. Expect them. Look at
Luke 9:51-56 when the Samaritan village did not want Jesus coming through their
town. Because they rejected Jesus and with some pride mixed in for themselves,
James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven and wipe those people off
the face of the earth...in love, of course. Jesus rebuked them! OK, not their
finest hour, but all in all, they turned out pretty well in the end and with
the Holy Spirit’s leading, we can too.
In Jesus, God has
placed a mantle call on us. Discipleship requires an Elisha commitment and
total surrender to His will. Psalm 16 is David’s declaration of his trust in
the Lord and his rightful expectation of God’s instruction, guidance,
provision, and presence for him in this life. Let us press on to our high
calling as Christ’s disciples and become disciple makers in the process. Let us
play our part in creating the next generation of saints. What are you doing that is more important
than that? Be done with lesser things. Jesus is calling! Go!
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